Land anchor



Nov. 13, 1928.

R. R. HIRST ET AL LAND ANCHOR Filed Feb. l0, 1927 Patented Nov. 13, 1928.

unirse stares! v1,591,480 PATENT orifice.

ROWLAND RUSHWORTH HIRST AND-ARNOLD HiB-ST, 0F HALIFAX, ENGLAND.

LAND 'ANCHOR Application filed February 10, 1927, Serial No. 167,302, and in Great Britain March 16, 192.

Our invention relates to the means enployed, in connection with tennis and like nets, to adjust the height of the centre part of the net, such means usually comprising, a member, of adjustable length, clipped or otherwise secured at its upper end to thenet cord or top band oi: the net and anchored Iat its lower end to hook or the like carried by a. socket driven into or held in the ground. lt is to the anchorage for the lower end of the adjusting member that our invention has particular reference.

lt is desirable that this anchorage shall be of -such a character or construction that, when the adjusting member is removed, there shallbe no projection above the surface of the ground which would interfere with the mowing or rollii g ol the surface of the court or playing area, and to this end it has been customary to provide an anchorage in the form of a vertcallyslidable hook Yhaving at its lower end an elongatedk eye engaged over a transverse pin or bar across the bore oi the socket, so that when the adjusting member is removed the hook will drop down within the socket. This construction has the objection, however, that the open upper end of the socket is liable to become choked with soil or dbris so that the sliding hook either will not tall properly or, if lowered, cannot be raised, vand the object ol". the invention is to provide a form of anchorage which will obviate this.

A device according to the invention :is characterized by the employment of two spaced pistons or plates mounted. on a central shank or bolt and slidable in the bore of a socket. A set screw, inserted through a tapped opening in the wall of the socket, projects into the space between the pistons am. 1'mits the pern'iissible extent of vertical moi/'ement of the shank or bolt. The upper end t' the bolt has f ment of the net adjustin e or member, and the arra1 'ement is such hat waen the device is in uv s, the upper surface of the upper piston is level with the top of the socket, and when the adjusting member is removed the shank or bolt is supported with its upper the top of theY end just below the level or socket.

The accompanying drawing will enable the invention to be clearly understood,

Fig. l showing the improved device, partly in section, with the net adjusting member applied, whilst Y Fig. 2 is a view, vsimilar to Fig. l, showing the device with the net adjusting means re'- moved. i

Fig, 3 shows a. slightly modified construction of the crevice.

Referring to the drawing, e represents a suitable socket, having a bore of of, preferably, cylindrical section, and adapted to be sunk with its upper end level with the surface of the ground. A bolt or shank b has two pistons c and 'd mounted thereon at a suitable distance apart vertically, the upper end ol the shank, above the piston c, having provision in the form of a hook b, for the attachment of the net adjusting means which comprise in the instance shown an eye bolt e threaded into a sleeve f which, by means of a short chain g, is connected to al doubled tape 72., the upper end of'which passes over the upper edge of the net band in well known manner.

` A set screw z', inserted through a tapped hole in the wall of the socket a, at an appropriate point below the top of the socket, projects into the space between the two pistons c and d.

The arrangement of the partsv is such that when, as shown in Fig. l the net adjusting means are connected to the shank o, and ten` sion is applied to the net, the screw el limits upward movement ot the piston d and positions Lthe upper surface of the piston c level the top of the hook bjust below the levelV of the top of the socket, as showninFig. 2.

lVhen the net is in use, therefore, the bore ,i the'socket is closed, and no soil or dbris can enter to chokcit,4 so that when the adjusting lmember is removed the hook will not iail to drop below the level of the top of the socket.V As the piston c, when in lowered position, is only a relatively short distance below the top of the socket, Vthe amount ot soil or dbris whichcan enter the borev is only small and is insuilicient to prevent the raising of the hook on re-attachment of the adjusting member, any dbris which .may have entered the bore being removed as the piston c rises under the pull of the adjusting member. Y n

It will be apparentv that, instead of employing two connected pistons as above described, the object may equally well be attained als shown in Fig. 3 by employing` e cylindrical block slidable in the bore a of the socket, and having e longitudinal recess or keyivay j in its surface into which ythe end of the stop screw z' may project.

Having` thus described our invention, what We claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is :-n

An anchorage comprising a vertical Socket to be embedded in the ground, a piston meinber slideble vertically in lsaid socket and having` a gortionrat its upper end to project above the socketwliensaid member is raised, Y

'said member. Y y

In testimony whereof We ai'iix our signetures,

ROWLAND RUSHWORTH HiRsr, ARNOLD Inner, 

